TriplePlay - What's the best TV, phone and broadband package for you?

The days of separate bills for your digital TV, phone and broadband are well and truly gone and the era of triple play is upon us. So what exactly is triple play? Basically, it means that you can get your digital TV, broadband and home phone service all from one provider.

UPC has offered this service for over six years, but Sky entered the market in April and, in the last two weeks, Eircom has launched eVision.

SmartShopper has analysed the different elements we look for in a good bundle. All the packages have their pros and cons and finding the best one for you depends on the service you’re looking for as well as where you are living.

Is triple play in my area?

• UPC: UPC has been on the market for quite a while but many people in rural Ireland have not been able to avail of its triple play offering. That’s because UPC only has cable cover in 800,000 homes, (approximately 50% of Irish homes). The network is accessible mostly in five cities and four regional towns, including Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Mullingar and Athlone.

• Eircom’s eVision: At the moment, Eircom’s eVision service is only available in 500,000 homes. However, it is expanding the service to 700,000 homes by the end of 2013 and by 2014 it hopes to be available in over one million homes, including many in rural areas.

• Sky: Sky is the option available to most houses in rural Ireland. Currently, Sky can offer its service to 91% of the population. If you have access to an Eircom broadband connection, you’re able to avail of the Sky bundle offering.

What network are you on?

• Sky: The reason Sky is most accessible to customers in rural Ireland is because of the network it uses. Sky does not have its own network – it is a wholesale customer of Eircom and BT. So if you are a Sky customer, you are getting your broadband either through BT or the Eircom DSL line, which is what many customers in rural Ireland are already connected to.

• Eircom eVision: So if Sky are using the Eircom line, you might be wondering why Eircom can’t get its service out to 91% of the population as well. This is because Eircom’s eVision offers its bundle service through a newer fibre line which has faster speeds. Eircom is spending €1.5 billion in rolling out this new line across the country, and it’s a work in process.

• UPC: UPC has also been rolling out its new network and all major towns in the country are serviced by UPC’s fibre line. When someone signs up in an area that’s covered, UPC connect new next generation cables into the customer’s house.

What broadband speeds are available to me?

• Sky: Since Sky is working off the DSL line and not the newer fibre line, its broadband speeds are the slowest of the three triple play options.

However, when we say slow, it will be just as fast as the speeds you’ve been receiving up until now with Eircom, which is a maximum of 24MB.

Remember, whether you get these speeds or not depends on how far away you are from the Eircom exchange.

• Eircom eVision: Eircom’s eFibre network can deliver higher speeds of up to 70MB (50MB on its cheapest offering). However, your distance to the exchange is still a factor that will affect the actual speeds you are going to get.

• UPC: Because of UPC’s more modern cables, it currently offers the best speeds in the market of up to 120MB (50MB on its cheapest offering). Furthermore, your distance to the exchange doesn’t matter. If you can avail of the service, you are going to get pretty close to the speeds that you pay for.

How reliable is the service?

• Eircom eVision: If you sign up to eVision, you are essentially getting the same breakdown service as if you were on the Eircom line. You will be connected to a call centre in Ireland and Eircom have a policy of fixing lines within 24 hours, although it depends on the damage done to the line.

• Sky: Similarly, Sky has a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Eircom and BT, so you would be availing of the same service as if you were an Eircom customer. BT service tends to be even faster. All of Sky’s sales calls and 80% of its service calls are answered in its call centre in Dublin.

• UPC: UPC call centres are based in Limerick, Cork and Clonmel. If there is a problem, UPC will send out one of its own engineers. If there is something faulty with the line, UPC aim to resolve the situation within one to two working days, but says that emergencies on major lines are usually fixed within 24 hours. As the UPC line is very new, the company says that reliability has become less of an issue.

What’s the cost?

One of the top questions concerning customers is price.

The new eVision service is working out the cheapest, with its most basic package costing €600 per year, compared to UPC’s €636 and Sky’s €684.

However, in the first year, eVision offers free TV for the first six months, which is a saving of €60. So in year two, your price will actually be €660 per year for the most basic package, which is €24 more expensive than UPC and €24 cheaper than Sky.

It’s also worth looking at value for money. When it comes to TV, Sky, with 252 channels, is offering the best package, compared to eVision’s 34 channels and UPC’s 50+ channels.

However, when it comes to phone packages, Sky offers the basic evening and weekend calls to Irish landlines, while eVision offers 30 extra minutes to mobiles on top of that. UPC’s bundle includes 400 international minutes in your bill. CL

Triple

play

This is the new name for combining your digital TV, broadband and phone bill in one bundle from the one provider.

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QUESTIONS

1. What service is actually available to me?

2. What do I consider most important – my TV, broadband or phone package?

3. How much am I willing to spend?

Sky: 0818 719 819 or www.sky.com | UPC: 1890 940 070 or www.upc.ie | Eircom eVision:1800 519 519 or www.eircom.ie/evision